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To continue with the morning of July 24, 2019, the second major presentation was “The Birth of American Labor: Terence Powderly, Samuel Gompers, and Henry George: Mutual Support and Conflicts,” written and narrated by Edward J. Dodson, M.L.A., who was ill and not present.
Terence Powderly (a labor leader) and Henry George had some similarities in their lives. They both shipped out as crew on ships to Australia and India (respectively, I think) when young. Henry George was working as a printer’s apprentice, and heard from an older printer that there higher wages in new countries. Henry George later went to California, tried this and that, married and had a family, and advocated reform.
Frederick Jackson Turner, of “Lost Frontier” fame, had heard Henry George. His thesis that the American frontier had provided opportunities for the very poor has been debated. Later historians would largely disagree; detailed analysis of census data would show that land in the West was largely bought by Eastern farmers and others, not settled by the penniless.
There was a labor movement in the cities, in which Terence Powderly and Samuel Gompers were prominent.
A recent immigrant translated Progress and Poverty into German, increasing its readership in both Europe and the United States. Then George wrote The Irish Land Question, later titled The Land Question, creating a further stir.
Terence Powderly half-promised to be a Georgist. The rank and file of the Knights of Labor were mostly not Georgists.
To be continued.
Terence Powderly (a labor leader) and Henry George had some similarities in their lives. They both shipped out as crew on ships to Australia and India (respectively, I think) when young. Henry George was working as a printer’s apprentice, and heard from an older printer that there higher wages in new countries. Henry George later went to California, tried this and that, married and had a family, and advocated reform.
Frederick Jackson Turner, of “Lost Frontier” fame, had heard Henry George. His thesis that the American frontier had provided opportunities for the very poor has been debated. Later historians would largely disagree; detailed analysis of census data would show that land in the West was largely bought by Eastern farmers and others, not settled by the penniless.
There was a labor movement in the cities, in which Terence Powderly and Samuel Gompers were prominent.
A recent immigrant translated Progress and Poverty into German, increasing its readership in both Europe and the United States. Then George wrote The Irish Land Question, later titled The Land Question, creating a further stir.
Terence Powderly half-promised to be a Georgist. The rank and file of the Knights of Labor were mostly not Georgists.
To be continued.
